Letters from the Crimea, the Danube and Armenia: August 18, 1854, to November 17, 1858

By Charles George Gordon

Book Overview

This volume of letters was published in 1884, when General Gordon (1833-85) was engaged in the controversial defence of Khartoum that claimed his life the following year. The reputation of 'Chinese' Gordon, a complex figure, unpopular with the British government and military but adored by the people and press, was fed by works such as this. Covering his time in the Crimea as a young lieutenant, and later in the drawing up of the new frontiers between the Russian and Ottoman empires, these letters were published by his later biographer, Demetrius C. Boulger (1853-1928) as evidence of Gordon's strength of character and value as a military leader. One reviewer noted in them an 'indomitable cheerfulness of disposition, patient endurance, trustful fatalism, simple courage and faith, ... and] single-hearted devotion to duty', words which reflected the popular view of Gordon as a symbol of British national pride and imperial honour.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1108044778
• ISBN13: 9781108044776
• Release Date: February 2012
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Length: 228 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.5" x 8.5"